People assume "it's in OneDrive, it's backed up." Mostly wrong. Sync is replication, not backup — if a file is corrupted, ransomware-encrypted or accidentally deleted, the broken version syncs everywhere within seconds. A real backup keeps immutable historical copies you can roll back to.
What OneDrive does and doesn't give you
| Capability | OneDrive sync | Proper backup |
|---|---|---|
| File available across devices | ✓ | ✓ |
| Files survive laptop loss | ✓ | ✓ |
| Recover a file you deleted yesterday | ✓ (Recycle Bin, 30 days) | ✓ |
| Recover a folder ransomware encrypted last week | partly (Files Restore, 30 days) | ✓ |
| Recover an account compromised then wiped | ✗ | ✓ |
| Recover from a malicious admin | ✗ | ✓ |
| Recover after 30 days | ✗ | ✓ |
The 10-minute fix
For most London ICT customers we set up Microsoft 365 Backup (Microsoft's own product) or a third-party like Veeam M365 / Datto. Either gives you:
- Immutable copies (Microsoft can't be admin'd into deleting them)
- Point-in-time restore going back at least 1 year
- Granular restore — pick a single file, a folder, a mailbox, or a whole user
Cost is ~£3–£4 per user per month. Worth it the first time anyone clicks the wrong link.
Sharepoint, Teams chats and OneNote also need backup. Office staff lose Teams chats far more often than OneDrive files — the OneDrive backup product usually covers Teams too, but check it's enabled.
What to do today
- Reply to your account manager asking: "Is M365 Backup enabled on our tenant?"
- If the answer is no — schedule a 15-minute call to scope it. Configuration is the same day.
- While you wait, set a quarterly reminder to actually test a restore of a real file. Untested backups have a way of not working when you need them.